Advocate, Hack or Flack: Ethics Questioned for an Environmental Journalist/Blogger and a Coal Public Relations Exec

The Journal of Mass Media Ethics publishes case studies in which scholars and media professionals outline how they would address a particular ethical problem. Cases are drawn from actual experience in newsrooms, corporations, entertainment arenas, and other agencies. We invite readers to call our attention to current cases and issues. (There is a special need for good cases in advertising and public relations.) We also invite suggestions of names of people, both professionals and academicians, who might write commentaries. Cases and commentaries in previous editions have addressed ethical issues about which many professionals and academics generally agree. This is not one of those times. The writers here have strong and differing opinions about public relations tactics and strategies, how ethics codes should be applied, who constitutes a journalist, and when someone can be quoted. We welcome this debate and discussion.